Dave George: There’s nothing real about A-Rod or his words

Wednesday

Back in 2009, with a limited steroids confession and a humble promise that his dirty days were over, Alex Rodriguez utilized that time-honored strategy for redemption in American public life.

Admitting guilt wasn’t his first choice, as demonstrated by the lies he told Katie Couric about steroid use in 2007. It wasn’t A-Rod’s own choice, either, since it took a hefty Sports Illustrated investigation to finally flush him out into the open. All the same, A-Rod did what was necessary to protect his legacy as a slugger worth remembering, if not quite saluting.

That flimsy truce has been broken by new allegations that the pinstriped pinhead continued to access performance-enhancing drugs through a shady Miami medicine man from 2009 on.

It doesn’t take Sports Illustrated to convince anybody these days. An alternative weekly newspaper called Miami New Times seems to have the goods on A-Rod and several other major leaguers now, with stacks of hand-written notes in the coded accounting style of the infamous BALCO lab.

What matters in all this to A-Rod is whether he gets the remaining $114 million on his gargantuan contract with the New York Yankees. That’s how the risk-reward game works, and that’s the game he’s winning still.

The players’ union will fight to make sure he is penalized by the letter of its agreement with Major League Baseball, which allows for a 50-day drug suspension and loss of pay in a case like this but not usually an outright release for breach of contract. The Yankees can be expected to soften, too, on their rumored drive to void A-Rod’s deal. They tried to do the same with Jason Giambi in 2004 during another steroid storm and found out that it’s just not that easy.

My guess is that A-Rod will just brazen it out, denying once more that he’s a cheater, pretending that groaning through six months of rehab from hip surgery, returning to the Yankees and winning another World Series is his reason for being. Why wouldn’t he? It’s going to take a while to sort all of this out, especially when baseball has no subpoena power, and especially when both the government has lost some of its appetite for chasing ballplayers down back alleys.

As for making A-Rod flinch or collapse in a puddle of shame, it’s certainly going to take more than knowing that the Yankees want to get rid of him. He’s known that for some time now, with his playoff benching last October for emphasis, and he’s also known that the all-time home run record won’t be his, either.

Stewed in banned substances or not, it’s been five years since A-Rod topped 30 homers in a season. To catch up to Bonds’ career total of 762, which is still 115 away, A-Rod would need to pick up the pace again and carry it well into his 40’s.

The man is 37, after all, and still acting and thinking like a spoiled kid who will manipulate any situation to get what he wants.

Here’s a lasting image for our own backyard, with A-Rod showing up on the back fields at Roger Dean Stadium to practice with the Dominican Republic team in preparation for the 2009 World Baseball Classic. Fresh off his admission of steroid use, Rodriguez was in heavy P.R. mop-up mode, posing for pictures with fans and signing anything that was handed him, including a copy of the damaging Sports Illustrated edition with the cover-story headline "A-Rod: Latest and Greatest to Fall."

At some point, his ex-wife pulled into the parking lot with A-Rod’s two daughters, one of them 4 years old and the other an infant. This had all the trappings of a perfectly timed photo op. A-Rod called the girls over with dozens of camera shutters clicking at close range. He posed with them for a moment or two, the elder child sitting on his knee and the baby in his arms. Then, with a kiss and a goodbye wave, A-Rod headed out to take another team photo with the Dominicans while his daughters melted into the background and eventually climbed back into the car to leave.

"That just worked out," A-Rod said of the convenient family reunion. "I wish they were around every day."

Always working on his stories, this guy. Always pretending to be real.

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